On January 1, 1993, Slovaks awoke in the independent Slovak Republic. On that historic day, the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), was already approaching the first anniversary of its direct cooperation with Slovak institutions and individuals in the private and public sectors. USAID had established an office in Bratislava and special programs for Slovakia a full year before any other bilateral assistance provider and a year and a half before the first international agency.

Our first contributions to Slovakia’s own reform efforts started in 1990 through both Czechoslovak Federal and Slovak Republic mechanisms. Within the first year of the establishment of our Bratislava office in January, 1992, it was responsible for managing 34 projects in Slovakia begun in 1990 and 1991, funded under the Support for Eastern European Democracies Act of 1989 (the SEED Act). These first activities provided training and technical assistance to strengthen democratic values and institutions, support the transformation of the economy, promote energy efficiency, reduce environmental contamination, and reform health care systems.

USAID has since provided over $180 million in SEED Act grant financing for over 120 different collaborative activities in Slovakia, involving hundreds of local institutions and thousands of individual partners. Our objective, at the beginning and now, has been to help Slovakia to progress on its path toward integration into European and Western institutions. Our assistance changed in response to obstacles and opportunities, but our program consistently aimed to encourage Slovakia’s transition from a centrally planned economy and one-party state to a vibrant, participatory democracy under the rule of law, with a private sector-led competitive market economy. Today, Slovakia is unequivocally committed to integration and has made demonstrable progress toward that goal.

In the last ten years, we have learned much from the many Slovaks with whom we have had the honor of working. We felt the joy of seeing some of their greatest hopes and aspirations come true. We shared the pain of some of their greatest frustrations. But, above all, we saw and appreciated the courage and ingenuity with which they struggled to overcome the immense difficulties that Slovakia inherited from its communist past. We know that our assistance helped them, and other Slovaks too many to number, to find ways to a better society, better legal and political structures and a better economy.

When the history of this period is written, people will recall that a solid, but incomplete, foundation for a democratic Slovakia was laid in the last decade of the twentieth century. People will recall that Slovakia’s path to integration into European and Western political and economic structures—and the transition to democracy and a market economy that this integration required—was not always smooth. Some of the dreams and visions of 1989 were realized by 2000, sometimes with great pain and sacrifices, but always with even greater hope and much hard work.

Slovakia is now a tested political democracy, having gone through peaceful changes in its national government and having selected national and local leaders through open, fair, and even hotly contested elections. Today, in 2000, Slovaks have rejected a return to an authoritarian, centralizing style of government more interested in securing its own position and personal gain than in advancing the common welfare. Government institutions are now learning to listen better to their constituents. The rule of law is being extended. Communities are being empowered and are making more decisions concerning their own affairs. Private citizens are once again spontaneously instituting their own voluntary organizations. Individuals are learning how to exercise their rights in a democracy and work together without sacrificing their individuality.

The Slovak economy has been transformed to a great extent, with most property either returned to its previous owners or otherwise privatized. The private sector is responding to market signals; it now accounts for over 80% of Gross Domestic Product. Improved productive technologies are being adopted, slowly but steadily. Slovak goods are becoming increasingly appreciated in world markets for the value they embody.

Other improvements have been made. Natural resources are being protected better now as a result of changes in laws, market incentives, and the people themselves. Dangerous and potentially debilitating environmental challenges are being addressed with greater concern and wisdom. Changes are starting to take hold in some parts of Slovakia’s health care delivery and educational systems.

Progress did not come easily or smoothly. The weight of the past has been heavy. Frustration with the present has discouraged some people, and not all people have seen that their lives have improved in this decade. But most people know that that they are freer today and that they have prospects for a brighter tomorrow.

The time has come for the USAID office to close. The USAID program, however, has not ended. To help Slovakia undertake steps it needs to take on its road to integration, a few elements of the program will continue into the future. And in a deeper sense, the USAID program will live on in the many organizations we helped to establish or strengthen, in the people whose lives we touched in the course of our cooperation, in the legal structures we helped change, and in the democratic principles our programs taught and embodied.

All USAID staff, past and present, both Slovak and American, take great pride in having contributed to Slovakia’s resurgence and its establishment as a democratic nation working to take its rightful place in Europe and the world. We know that nation building is a difficult and continual process and that Slovakia will continue to evolve and strive to make the fruits of democracy and material progress accessible to all its citizens. We are confident that Slovakia’s elected leaders will have the courage and wisdom to continue reshaping the country’s laws and institutions to better contribute to their country’s advancement. And we know that Slovakia’s people will persevere with integrity in their efforts to provide a better future for themselves and their children.